Our planet never seems more beautiful than from a distance. Extreme jumper Felix Baumgartner brought back this amazingly distant view — from 71,580 feet above the surface — before jumping out of his space capsule and hurtling home at 365 mph in his quest to hit supersonic speeds without an aircraft.

The company behind the re-imagined New Stratos confirmed in an email today what we first reported back in July: Ferrari won't let them build it. But, they also hinted at a new, more French direction for their next car.

The revived Lancia Stratos engineered into reality by a German millionaire was expected to spawn 40 copies for wealthy fans of the resurrected rally champion. That plan has now been blocked by a key player — Ferrari.

It takes under two minutes to remind us why Lancia's rally efforts were so awesome and simultaneously stoke the flames of our burning desire to own a Stratos. Unfortunately, this footage is likely as close as we will ever get.

The Lancia Stratos HF Group 4 rally car is the most iconic woods-whipper in history, so it's fitting der neue Stratos would eventually get painted in Alitalia livery. Why would you order a New Stratos any other way?

The just-released specs for the New Stratos read like a "Dear Penthouse" letter; strangely ideal, impossibly athletic and therefore hard to believe. A 5 lb/hp power-to-weight ratio's just the beginning. We suggest you lock your bedroom door before reading on.

One of the benefits of having enough wealth to resurrect the Lancia Stratos using Ferrari technology? Getting Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and Ferrari chief test driver Dario Benuzzi to give you suspension pointers after hot laps at Fiorano. [Stratos]

We anointed Pete Krehbiel the "Real Most Interesting Man In The World" after he managed to legally import a Ford Focus RS. Now an admittedly hungover Krebs emailed us details of his latest conquest: a basketcase Lancia Stratos replica.

The Ferrari F430-based New Lancia Stratos is a mostly untouchable limited-edition plaything for the fabulously wealthy and well-connected, but that doesn't make watching final engine tuning of this gorgeous vehicle any less enjoyable. More below.

Here's the first video showing off the new Pininfarina-penned Lancia Stratos doing laps on the track. If there's a better way to chase away a case of the Mondays we don't know what it is. (H/t to everyone!) [via Jalopnik.br]